Jess: Last Friday, my fellow juniors and I had to attend the Anti-Racism seminar. Eight hours of anti-racism. Anyone who was on Facebook that day probably noticed my quickly escalating anger from the class.
Out of the eight hours, seven hours and 50 minutes of the class were devoted to A) Proving that racism still exists today and B) Making white people feel guilty about their privileged position in society. Most of the students were a little perturbed about this, to say the least. None of us were under the impression that racism was eradicated in the 1970s. We didn't need to have that drilled into our heads for 7 hours. What we needed was some sort of practical use of the class.
There were a few other major problems I had with the class. First, I think that, in this day and age, it is inexcusable to talk about racism and not have some sort of comparable class about sexism, heterosexism, xenophobia, etc. Most of the class brought up this issue in either the large or small group sessions. At the same time, even if it were okay that nothing outside of racism was addressed, the only racism we focused on was whites being racist toward blacks. We have a Puerto Rican student in our class. This did NOT make him happy at all. There are whites in the class who have been discriminated against for being white. What about these issues?
So that's enough complaining. Now what do I do? The class obviously gave us no practical outlet for social justice. But as Christians, we're called to change the situations and systems that allow racism, sexism, heterosexism, etc. to continue. The closer I get to being a pastor, the more I realize that I need to not only practice what I preach, but practice BEFORE I preach. I can't go into the pulpit and tell someone to work on social justice ministry, then go back to my house and watch my big TV and ignore the problems of the world. So what do I do?
My classmates and I were clearly troubled by the prevalence of racism today in the system. Our government is creating and sustaining systems that allow racism to continue. Helping an individual is great for that person, but what do we do about the inherent injustice in the system? Where do we go from here? Those of us in positions of privilege HAVE to do something. Recognizing the problem is a good start, but how do we change it?
I don't know yet. I do know I want to start an advocacy group on campus. I want to invite my class and I want to see where it goes. I want to be in marches, I want to write to my congressperson, I want to vote in a way that changes the system. But everything starts at a smaller level. And there are SO many problems. Which one do I start with? Is there some sort of domino effect? What will happen?
"“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
Wes: You want to know what's weird? Princeton never made us go through anything like that. Apparently it's just the Lutherans who need to be informed that racism still exists :-P. But seriously, Jess' story just goes to show how good the church is at talking about the problem without really ever addressing how to tackle the problem. It's a sad state of reality for many people...
I want to share with you a blessing from God to Jess and I. For the past year and two months, I have been pastoring the two-point charge of Crosswicks UMC and Ellisdale UMC. Crosswicks, the larger of the churches, is located in Chesterfield Township, which is a small town off of Bordentown, which is a larger small town in between Hamilton, Burlington, and Trenton. Now, in Bordentown, all of the pastors from all of the different churches and denominations have a standing breakfast appointment together at the Town and Country Diner. This group, called the Greater Bordentown Ministerium, consists of Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Pentecostal ministers, with as many as 15 showing up on any given Tuesday for breakfast. I have been as faithful to this group as I possibly could, attending weekly with the exception of the semester that I had a Tuesday morning class. This group spends anywhere between an hour to two hours talking about life, ministry, theology, history, books, movies... absolutely whatever. There is never an agenda; we just spend time in each other's lives.
Jessica and I were talking a couple weeks ago about this ministerium breakfast, and I realized something: If for no other reason, it was worth us coming to Crosswicks and Ellisdale just to be a part of this group. The pastors are encouraging and challenging. They keep me accountable in my studies and challenge me to push harder than I want to. They are willing to be questioned and stretched, willing to walk through process with Jess and I as we continue our education toward ordination.
And not once have I felt like a 23 year-old sitting around the table with a bunch of soon-to-be or actual seniors who have been doing ministry longer than I've been alive. They make me feel like a colleague, like a partner in ministry. They include me in everything, ask my opinions and listen when I give them. It is a wonderful feeling, and I am completely and utterly thankful to God for this group. I honestly do not know if I could juggle everything that I have to juggle each week if it weren't for their love and support.
When we leave, whenever that may be, I am definitely going to miss this group. I don't know of any other place that has such a wonderful ministerium set up. Denominational differences, gender boundaries, and racial limitations dissolve when we are together, and we can engage in true Christian community.
I pray that everyone, especially those in ministry, get to experience something like this at least once in their ministry or their life.
Well, that's all for now. Love love love!
You stay classy, World Wide Web!
-jess and wes
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Jess, I feel your pain about the racism seminar. About a year I went to a women in business seminar and I felt that the seminar itself was ridiculously sexist (thank you, Anita Perry). While it sounds like your criticism of a lack of direction or remedy is very fair, I think you may forget that a lot (a lot a lot a lot) of people do completely deny that racism exists. There is no fighting if you don't have a solid foundation of what racism is, how to recognize it and examples of ingrained, systematic and programmatic types of racism. You can't educate the masses you come into contact with when they are so out of touch with reality that they don't see these basic things that you do. Maybe they will have a Racism II: Strategies class next.
ReplyDeleteWes, fear not about your lunch group. I think they are pretty common. My parent's former priest used to play golf once a week with a group of varied religious leaders. Their current priest has lunch once a week with another group. Much like the racism issue, if you find yourself in a system that is lacking, you can always choose to create.